Fall protection safety process &amp; apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a safety apparatus and process for use by a workman in the installation of roofing truss and roofs on buildings and especially to a fall protection safety apparatus for securing a worker during installation of a roof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a safety apparatus and process for use by workmen in the installation of roofing truss and roofs on buildings and especially to a fall protection safety apparatus for securing a worker during installation of a roof.

In the construction of buildings, workers are often required to work on installation of roofing truss and roofs thereover. In these situations, it is desirable to secure the worker to a safety line to minimize the risk of a fall. Not only must a worker be careful of missed steps, he must also contend with unexpected gusts of wind and other unanticipated circumstances. Thus, it is known to attach a safety line to some portion of the roof or roof truss and then to attach a safety line to a worker either with a safety harness or safety belt or the like. This not only prevents injury but helps in reducing construction costs by reducing the insurance rates for construction work of a hazardous nature.

In the past, workers must move a fall protection safety line and re-anchor the safety line in different positions as the roof is going up. Building roof trusses are generally attached to a building header starting at one end and extending across as each adjacent truss is attached to the building.

The present invention contemplates a fall protection safety process and apparatus for roof installations which allows anchoring means for a roofing truss to be moved or walked along the roof truss while having the roof truss attached at times.

Past roofing safety devices can be seen in the Smith U.S. Pat. No. 3,217,833 for a safety device for use by workmen on steel or like structures in which flanged beam members are used and in the Poldmaa U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,020 for an anchor for a safety rope. In the Walcher et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,720, a standing clamp for standing seam roofs is provided. A safety clamp engages the standing seam to hold three standing seams in clamped relationship between the tabs for supporting a safety line attached to a worker. In the Glynn et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,713, a roof attachment member for a safety line is provided which attachment member attaches to the roof peak to which a safety line can be clipped. The Gray U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,646 is a retractable fall restraint device for restraining a workman from a fall from a roof or other structure. The Curtin U.S. Pat. No. 6,966,531 is for a roof anchor for securing a working line as is the Nichols U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,202 for a fall arrest lifeline roof anchor and U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,021. The Arisman, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,036 is a roof lifeline anchor while the Crocker et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,949 is a motion stopping safety system for workers.

The present invention allows a roofer or workman to be connected to a safety line which is anchored to the roof truss and which is moved across a series of truss without ever disconnecting the safety line from at least one roofing truss.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A fall protection safety process for roof installation includes the step of selecting a roof truss attaching apparatus having an elongated arm having two end portions. A first clamp is rotatably attached to one end portion and a second clamp is rotatably attached to the other end portion of the elongated arm. The elongated arm has a safety line attachment thereon between the end portions thereof for attaching a safety line. The first clamp is clamped to one roof truss while the second clamp is attached to an adjacent roof truss with the arms spanning between the two truss. The process includes unclamping the first clamp from one roof truss and rotating an elongated arm on the second clamp to bring the first clamp to the next adjacent roof truss and then clamping the first clamp to the next adjacent roof truss so that a roof attachment apparatus remains attached to one roof truss while moving the roof attachment-apparatus across a plurality of roof truss. The process also includes rotating an unclamped first clamp to align it with the next adjacent roof truss. The process includes selecting a roof truss attaching apparatus having a safety line attachment which may be a traveler eye attached to the elongated arm and attaching a line swivel member thereto which has the safety line attached thereto. A safety harness for a workmen is attached to the elongated arm with the safety line. The process includes selecting first and second clamps which are rapidly attaching toggle clamps. The elongated arm has a shaft extending from each end portion thereof so that the first and second clamps are each rotatably attached to one arm shaft.

A fall protection safety apparatus for a roof installation is provided which includes a roof truss attaching apparatus having an elongated arm having two end portions and having a first clamp rotatably attached to one end portion thereof-and a second clamp rotatably attached to the other end portion of the arm. The arm has a safety line attachment thereon between the end portions thereof for attaching a safety line. A safety line is attached to the safety line attachment of the roof truss attaching apparatus. The roof truss attaching apparatus can be attached between two adjacent roof truss for holding a workman on a safety line and then one clamp unclamped to allow one end of the arm to be rotated on the other clamp clamped end for clamping onto an adjacent roof truss to thereby always have the roof truss attaching apparatus clamped to at least one roof truss while installing a roof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the written description and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a roof installation having the present fall protection safety apparatus attached to a pair of roofing truss;

FIG. 2 is a cutaway elevation of a portion of the fall protection safety apparatus clamp;

FIG. 3 is a cutaway elevation of the clamp of FIG. 2 in an unclamped position; and

FIG. 4 is a cutaway perspective of the fall protection safety apparatus illustrating the fall protection safety process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings FIGS. 1 through 4, a roof truss attaching apparatus 10 as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4 includes an elongated arm 11 having a safety line attachment member or traveling eye 12 attached between the ends thereof. The elongated arm 11 has a shaft 13 extending out of one end portion and a shaft 14 extending out of the other end portion thereof. Shaft 13 rotatably holds a clamp 15 thereon while shaft 14 rotatably holds a clamp 16 thereon. The clamps, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, are attached to a pair of adjacent roofing truss 17 being installed on a building 18. The roofing trusses are normally spaced 44″ on center. As seen in FIG. 1, a crane hook 20 has lifted a roofing truss in place which is positioned and held in place by a temporary board 21 while the roofing truss is anchored to the header 22. A workman 23, as seen in FIG. 1, has a safety harness 24 attached to him with a safety line 25 attached thereto. The safety line 25 is attached to a safety line swivel 26 which in turn is attached to the safety line attachment 12. The fall protection safety apparatus 10 has the clamps 15 and 16 attached to adjacent truss members 17 to hold the elongated arm 11 between the two truss members 17 spanning a space between the truss members. When clamped, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the fall protection safety apparatus 10 allows a workman 23 to be safely held by the safety line 25 attached to the safety line attachment member 12.

The operation of the clamps 15 and 16 are illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. The clamp 15 is seen attached to the shaft 13 and has the elongated arm 11 supported thereon. The clamp 15 has a body 27 having a truss member 17 slid thereinto, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. Each clamp 15 and 16 can be a push/pull toggle clamp, such as a Carr Lane Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, Mo., Model CL-355-2PC push/pull toggle clamp. The toggle clamp is a quick acting mechanical linkage where two of the elements make up a toggle action. Actuating the clamp first moves it into position then applies a clamping force by compressing or stretching the linkage elements after contacting the workpiece and then positively locking the workpiece and moving the toggle actions center pivot past the center line of the other two pivots against a stop.

As seen in FIG. 2, the toggle clamp has a handle 28 pinned to the housing 30 with a pin 31. The handle 28 has an arm 32 in FIG. 3 connecting to a link 33 with a pin 34 and is connected to the ram 35 so that rotating the handle 28 from the position in FIG. 3 to the position of FIG. 4 rotates the arm 32 to drive the link 33 forward or backwards which in turn drives the ram 35. The ram 35 may have a gripping plate 37 attached thereto for gripping the truss members 17.

Turning more specifically to FIG. 4, the process of the present invention is illustrated in which the fall protection safety apparatus 10 is clamped with clamps 15 and 16 to adjacent truss 17 and is holding the safety line 25 with a swivel 26 connected to the safety line attaching member 12. To move the fall protection safety apparatus between adjacent truss requires the loosening of the rapid clamp 16 to loosen the clamp from the truss 17 and then rotating the arm 11 on the shaft 13 while rotating the clamp 16 on the shaft 14 to align it for the next roofing truss 17, swinging the arm 11. As shown in phantom in FIG. 4, this allows the clamp 16 to be brought down upon the adjacent truss 17 and clamped with the clamp 16 to move the fall safety apparatus from between one pair of truss to the next adjacent pair of-truss to, in effect, walk the fall safety apparatus from one pair of truss to the next, always having a clamp clamped to a truss 17 so that the workman 23 is always held by a safety line 25 that is always clamped to at least one truss member even when moving from one truss to another as the truss rafters are put in place. This allows the workman to have a safety harness held by a safety line while installing a series of roofing truss and to be able to walk a roof truss-attaching apparatus on the roofing truss as each new truss member is put in place.

Thus, the fall protection safety process is illustrated for a roof installation which selects a roof truss attaching apparatus 10 having an elongated arm 11 having two end portions and having a first clamp 15 rotatably attached to one end portion of the arm 11 and a second clamp 16 rotatably attached to the other end portion of the elongated arm 11 and the arm having a safety line attachment 12 thereon between the end portions of the arm for attaching a safety line 25. The selective roof truss attaching apparatus is first clamped by the first clamp to one roof truss and the second clamp is clamped to an adjacent roof truss with the arms spanning between the two roof truss. Then as new truss are added, one clamp can be unclamped from one roof truss and the elongated arm 11 rotated, as seen in FIG. 4, on the second clamp 15 to bring the first clamp onto the next adjacent roof truss. The process then includes clamping the first truss 16 in the drawings to the next adjacent roof truss so that a roof attachment apparatus remains attached to one roof truss 17 at all times while moving the roof attachment apparatus across the roof trusses. The process also requires that the unclamped first clamp 16 be rotated as the arm 11 is rotated to bring the clamp onto the next adjacent roof truss. The safety line attaching member 12 may be a traveler's eye and may have a line swivel member 26 attached thereto for holding a safety line 25. The safety line 25 may then be attached to a workman's harness or belt. Clamps 15 and 16 are rapid attaching toggle clamps and are mounted on shafts extending from the elongated arm 11 for easy rotation of the arm on each clamp or each clamp on the arm.

It should be clear at this time that a fall protection safety process and apparatus have been provided which allows a workman installing a new roof to be held with a safety line which is always attached with a roofing truss as the attachment is moved across the roofing truss as new truss are added to the roof while always being clamped to at least one roofing truss. This provides for the rapid movement of the roofing truss attachment while maintaining the safety of the workman. However, the present invention should be considered illustrative rather than restrictive. 

1. A fall protection safety process for roof installation comprising the steps of: selecting a roof truss attaching apparatus having an elongated arm having two end portions and having a first clamp rotatably attached to one end portion and a second clamp rotatably attached to the other end portion of said elongated arm and said arm having a safety line attachment thereon between the end portions thereof for attaching a safety line; clamping said first clamp to one roof truss and said second clamp to an adjacent roof truss with said arm spanning between the two trusses; unclamping said first clamp from said one roof truss and rotating said arm on said second clamp to bring said first clamp onto the next adjacent roof truss; and clamping said first clamp to said next adjacent roof truss; whereby a roof attachment apparatus remains attached to one roof truss while moving the roof attachment apparatus across roof trusses.
 2. The fall protection safety process for roof installation in accordance with claim 1 including the step of rotating said unclamped first clamp to align said first clamp with the next adjacent roof truss.
 3. The fall protection safety process for roof installation in accordance with claim 2 in which said selected safety line attachment is a traveler eye.
 4. The fall protection safety process for roof installation in accordance with claim 3 including a line swivel member movably attached to said safety line attachment.
 5. The fall protection safety process for roof installation in accordance with claim 4 including a safety line attached to said line swivel member for attaching a safety harness for a workmen to said elongated arm.
 6. The fall protection safety process for roof installation in accordance with claim 5 in which said first and second clamps are each rapid attaching toggle clamps.
 7. The fall protection safety process for roof installation in accordance with claim 6 in which said elongated arm has a shaft extending from each end portion thereof and said first and second clamps are each rotatably attached to one said arm shaft.
 8. The fall protection safety process for roof installation in accordance with claim 7 in which said first and second clamps each have a swinging handle that is rotated to-clamp onto a truss.
 9. A fall protection safety apparatus for roof installation comprising: a roof truss attaching apparatus having an elongated arm having two end portions and having a first clamp rotatably attached to one end portion thereof and a second clamp rotatably attached to the other end portion of said arm and said arm having a safety line attachment thereon between said end portions of said arm for attaching a safety line; a safety line attached to said safety line attachment of said roof truss attaching apparatus; whereby a roof truss attaching apparatus can be attached between two adjacent roof truss for holding a workmen on a safety line and then one clamp unclamped to allow one end of said arm to be rotated on the other clamp clamped end for clamping on an adjacent roof truss to thereby always have the roof truss attaching apparatus clamped to at least one roof truss while installing a roof. 